Huckabee, Thompson trade barbs on shows

With the Iowa caucuses just 46 days away, three leading presidential contenders fanned out on the Sunday morning talk shows to contrast their records with those of their opponents.

As he continues to move up in the polls in several early-contest states, Republican presidential contender Mike Huckabee was on the defensive on “Fox News Sunday” over his ethical record as governor of Arkansas and accusations that he supported raising taxes during his tenure.

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Host Chris Wallace cited the Arkansas Ethics Commission’s reprimands of Huckabee over ethical misconduct, including the charge that his wife, Janet, set up a wedding registry for a housewarming party to help furnish the governor’s mansion.

“I had nothing to do with it. … In my state, if a guy knows anything about his wife’s friends giving a housewarming party, he’s going to get laughed out of town,” Huckabee said.

Huckabee went on to attribute the ethical battles he faced as governor to the down-and-dirty nature of Arkansas politics.

“It is not beanbag. It is serious business down here. When you’re a Republican in a very Democratic state, you have to look at where those complaints came from,” Huckabee said. “The one thing it proves is that I’m prepared for a presidential campaign. I’ve been through this stuff. I don’t have a glass jaw. … All the allegations turned out to be pure nonsense.”

Meanwhile, Huckabee’s economic record recently has come under scrutiny as a prominent fiscally conservative group attacked him for being a prolific tax-hiker as governor. The anti-tax group, the Club for Growth, has publicized a 2003 speech he gave to a special session of the state legislature in which he said he was open to several types of tax increases.

Huckabee defended his record, arguing some of the money was needed for infrastructure improvements and funding for critical public services.

“If my economic record was so bad, how come at the end of it we had a billion dollars in surplus, the lowest unemployment rates that had been sustained in history and also we were able to move half the people on welfare into jobs? It’s a record historians are going to be very kind with, even if the Club for Growth isn’t,” Huckabee said.

He also called the group’s tactics “among the most despicable in politics,” derisively referring to them as the Club for Greed.

Huckabee also debuted his first advertisement of the election cycle on “Fox News Sunday”, featuring — who else? — actor Chuck Norris, who is perhaps his most prominent endorser. In the ad, Huckabee appears alongside Norris and says “My plan to secure the border? Two words: Chuck Norris.”

The spots are scheduled to begin airing in Iowa next week, according to Huckabee.

“We want to show that running for president is serious business. But a person ought to have fun doing it,” Huckabee said.

Thompson attacks Huckabee, defends against Romney

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, competing for many of the same socially conservative Southern voters as Huckabee, dismissed his GOP primary rival as a “pro-life liberal” in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”